SelectScience
Join Free
Accelerating Science
NewsLife Sciences

BioSpring Selects GE Healthcare Life Sciences OligoProcess™ for Large Scale Synthesis of Therapeutic Oligonucleotides

Cytiva
13 May 2014
Sarah Thomas
Associate Editor

Product news

GE Healthcare Life Sciences and German oligonucleotide manufacturer BioSpring GmbH announced today that BioSpring has selected and installed GE Healthcare Life Sciences’ OligoProcess, a fully automated oligonucleotide synthesizer, as a core element of its state-of-the-art production facility in Frankfurt.

Oligonucleotides are short sequences of DNA or RNA which can modify the expression of genes involved in disease pathways, leading to considerable interest in their potential as next-generation therapeutic agents for treating a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, asthma and diabetes. GE Healthcare’s OligoProcess is a customizable platform for the synthesis of therapeutic oligonucleotides, designed to allow manufacturing scale-up from early stage clinical research to post-marketing manufacture on the same system. This single system approach greatly simplifies manufacturing process development, offering the potential to save both time and money as well as reduce project risk.

Dr. Sylvia Wojczewski, CEO of BioSpring, said: “We are very excited to be the first in the world to have this new technology platform in our facility because it will enable us to improve the output and flexibility of our manufacturing capabilities. The ability to go from pilot scale to full manufacturing scale on the same system, which OligoProcess delivers, is a key requirement for us in serving our customers more effectively and efficiently than before.”

Emmanuel Ligner, Global Commercial Manager, BioProcess, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said: “We are seeing a real diversification in the types of molecules that the industry is developing for therapeutic use, to include fragment antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, vaccines and oligonucleotides. Our driver is to develop the technologies, tools and services which help the industry to manufacture a quality product in the most cost-effective way possible. With the help of our technology, BioSpring has enhanced its offering to companies needing manufacturing-scale production of oligonucleotides for therapeutic use.”

GE Healthcare offers a wide range of start-to-finish technologies and services for the discovery and manufacture of innovative new medicines and vaccines. In March 2014 the company acquired Thermo Fisher’s HyClone™ cell culture media and sera business and in 2012 the company launched KUBio™, an off-the-shelf modular factory for the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies. BioSpring has a number of collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies.

On Wednesday 14th May 2014, GE Healthcare and BioSpring will present data on the OligoProcess oligonucleotide manufacturing system at the 16th Annual TIDES Conference, Providence, RI, USA.

Links

CytivaCompany website

Tags

OligonucleotidesOligonucleotides are small nucleic acid polymers, usually less than 20 bases in length. Oligonucleotides can be made via enzymatic cleavage or more commonly by chemical synthesis with polymerases. Their use includes FISH, southern blots, microarrays and as primers in PCR. High fidelity synthesis kits and detection systems are available for easy production and detection, respectively.Gene Expression and Molecular CloningMolecular cloning is a set of techniques that utilizes vectors to transfer recombinant DNA into host cells and is an essential tool for investigating the expression of genes and proteins in bacterial or mammalian cells. A variety of vectors optimized for gene cloning and expression in a range of host organisms are available, alongside competent cells for genetic replication. Here, you can explore a range of molecular tools, high-quality genomic and cDNA libraries, premade clones, transformation and transfection reagents and mutagenesis or gene expression detection assays and expression arrays. Find the best gene expression and molecular cloning products in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Scale-upScale-Up is generally defined as the process of transferring the results of the discovery phases of the drug discovery process, obtained on a laboratory scale, to the pilot plant and finally to production scale. Scale-Up uses reactors and pump systems as well as reagents, standards and buffers. Often Scale-Up is provided as a service by Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs). Bioprocessing / FermentationBioprocessing is the use of biological materials to perform commercial, scientific or medical research processes. Biological materials used include cells, enzymes and organisms. Usually bioprocessing requires a batch or continuous bioreactor such as a fermentor or cell culture system. The advantages of using a reactor include high productivity, easy configuration, adjustable values and automation.TherapeuticsTherapeutics are treatments designed to alleviate or cure diseases. These include pharmaceuticals, biologics, and gene therapies, which work by targeting specific disease mechanisms. Advances in personalized medicine and biologics offer new hope for patients with conditions that were previously difficult to treat. Browse our peer-reviewed product directory to find therapeutic solutions for various diseases; compare products, check user reviews, and get pricing directly from manufacturers.

Related articles